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So, I’m scrolling through my reader this morning and I come across a post from Bastet And Sekhmat’s Library titled “Roundelay: Yule-Tide” (check out her site, if you haven’t already 🙂 ). She serves as a great resource, along with Paint The World With Words and others, in my seemingly never-ending quest to at least attempt once the various forms of poetry out there (except Epics, I’m more Homer Simpson than Homer of the Iliad 😉 ).
Like I do with most of my attempts, let me try and break the form down for you.
From Guide to Verse Forms:
The roundelay is quite different from the rondelet, despite the names sounding so similar. It is also different from the roundel, the rondel, the rondine, the rondeauand the rondeau redoublé. These forms all evolved from a common ancestor, hence the similar names. The modern forms are all fixed and tightly defined, but in times past the word roundelay was used in other ways, sometimes as a general term for any kind of lyric.
This is one of those forms where most of the lines get repeated – there are 24 lines in the poem, but only 12 of them are different. The structure is actually very simple, if you consider it in terms of pairs of lines. There are only 6 pairs of lines in the poem, arranged according to this scheme: ABR/BCR/CDR/DER, where R denotes the 2-line refrain that ends each stanza. The metre is trochaic tetrameter (see the metre page if necessary) but it is permissible for some of the lines to be (as here) one syllable short. (credit: Bob Newman)
I’ve color coded my Roundelay as a guide, but here’s a breakdown for those not familiar with poetry (like me, but I’m learning):
24 lines (4 stanzas-6 lines each)
First Stanza
Line 1 – A 1
Line 2 – A 2
Line 3 – B1 (rhyme A1)
Line 4 – B2 (rhyme A2)
Line 5 – Refrain 1 (rhyme A1 and B1)
Line 6 – Refrain 2 (rhyme A2 and B2)
Second stanza
Line 7 – B1 repeats
Line 8 – B2 repeats
Line 9 – C1 (rhyme B1)
Line 10 – C2 (rhyme B2)
Line 11 – Refrain 1
Line 12 – Refrain 2
Third Stanza
Line 13 – C1 repeats
Line 14 – C2 repeats
Line 15 – D1 (rhyme C1)
Line 16 – D2 (rhyme C2)
Line 17 – Refrain 1
Line 18 – Refrain 2
Fourth Stanza
Line 19 – D1 repeats
Line 20 – D2 repeats
Line 21 – E1 (rhyme D1)
Line 22 – E2 (rhyme D2)
Line 23 – Refrain 1
Line 24 – Refrain 2
And for those like me that couldn’t tell an iamb from trochaic foot if a meth-addled junkie held a gun to our heads demanding an explanation, I just went with 8 syllables per line (although 7 is also acceptable apparently).
Hope the breakdown helps and I hope you enjoy.
Happy Holidays to everyone and, as always, Happy Reading and Writing!
J. Milburn
You ROCK with the explanations and inspiration, Jeremy 🙂
Thank you, C.C.! Happy Holidays! 😀
You are on a Kraumpus kick! lol Quite fun to read
and I can’t spell
To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have noticed if you hadn’t pointed it out 😉 I have my spelling issues as well, so no sweat!
I’d never really heard of him before I started looking for anti-Santa in that other story. He’s horrible, but fun to play around with 😉 Although I originally forgot to rhyme and had Santa coupling with Krampus. Luckily, I could use Nicholas 😀 Thanks, Anja!
LOL….how fun is this! Love it oh knight in shining armor and I’d never heard of the Krampus. It’s a tricky little form, seems simpler than it is. As for iambs and all that jazz (which drive me batty), a friend by the name of Vivi introduced m to a great book called: “The Ode Less Travelled” by the comedian Sephen Fry…it’s fantastic full of info and will have you rofl! Do you allow me to add this great poem to the Yule post with a link here? By the way, thanks for the ping!
Thank you! I’ll have to check that book out 🙂 And you can absolutely add it to your post! I’d appreciate it 😀
done!
[…] This was a challenging form to try, so I chose a subject that I also find challenging. I was inspired, again, by J. Millburn over at: https://jeremymilburn.wordpress.com/2013/12/22/roundelay-krampus-seriously/ […]